Activity

@j-a-penrose @esjohnson @julia @coggleton

Wow. Seriously. Your ideas are great! I don’t even know what to suggest.

(and yeah ya’ll posted here a month ago but I’ve been too lazy—I mean busy—to post on this thread lately so…here goes :P)

This is going to be long…sorry!

Basically, I’m starting a very long fantasy series (I have tentative plans for about ten books, but there are big gaps between them, so there will probably be more) that’s meant to show, symbolically, what a Christian’s life should be like in a dark world. The entire series will have a central theme of hope, but each book will have it’s own separate theme, which will hopefully (pun not intended!) tie into the central theme. It will span hundreds of years, so the stories will be related but not sequential. It would be like reading a history book of the world in novel form.

 

Pre book one (called Dahop’s Ember), the Great Alpha Yevlo created the world because first, he likes to create things, and more importantly, he wanted to make a place for his ‘family’ to enjoy and explore. There are four races (his ‘family’): unicorns, wolves, tacumas, and kumquari dragons. There are only four unicorns and they are immortal (partially, there is a way they can die but it’s rare). At the beginning of the world (Yelodria) four ‘Betas’ were chosen, two tacumas (which are basically humans with cat-like ears and claws and a tail) and two wolves (whose culture is like that of a wolf on Earth, but they have human characteristics). The Betas each received a stone corresponding the unicorn they are paired with (Sapphire, Amethyst, Peridot, and Topaz). The Beta and the unicorn are paired forever (or until the Beta dies, as will happen later) and they are second in command over the world under Yevlo, and their task is to unite the people and remind them of their Alpha, plus some other things I’m not entirely sure about yet.

So, one of the tacumas who was the Topaz Beta, Dalaf, decided he wasn’t happy being second in command. He begged Yevlo for more power, but it would not be granted to him, and he became very angry. Dalaf wanted Yevlo’s position, and he wanted the Yeriact, something only Yevlo could possess, so he could have sovereign power and create things.

Eventually the longing for power built up so much that Dalaf attempted to steal the Yeriact, and failed. Yevlo caught him just as he was about to take it, and though he did not want to, was forced to banish Dalaf from his island. Dalaf was isolated alone on Death Island, and Topaz, unwilling to break the bond between Beta and unicorn, followed him into darkness.

Although he was now separated from everyone else, Dalaf’s treachery was not without effect on the world. Because he touched the Yeriact, he gathered enough power of creation to make an evil race—Yeultzers. They are hideous vulture things with a long, whip-like tail who hunger for nothing but revenge and rotting flesh. Anything their tail touches will burn, and the older the Yeultzer the longer the tail and the worse the burn. Then he created another moon, the Blood Moon, which cast a separate curse on each race. But there Dalaf’s power stopped, and he had only a tiny bit of foresight, and his only hope of getting the Yeriact was to convince enough of the wolves, tacumas, and dragons onto his side so that he could defeat Yevlo in the end.

Dalaf touching the Yeriact also had an ill effect on the others, who now began to thing more and more of themselves and less of their Alpha. When some began to defy him altogether and hate and jealousy sprang up between them, Yevlo sent them over the sea with much weeping and set up impassible rocky cliffs (called Barrier Island) around his island. A time limit was set on the world, and death became a real thing. Yevlo sent them away, but not without the promise that he was watching over them and that everything had an end, and that at the end of time he would break down the barrier and bring those who would follow him home.

Everyone spread out over the world, some still defiant and some truly regretful of what they had lost. The Peridot and Amethyst Betas were miserable and decided to try to get back to Yevlo. Their unicorns tried to tell them to stay and wait, but they would not listen and set off in the boat. With much difficulty, the unicorns broke their bonds and stayed although it caused them much grief. The two Betas sailed through the only break in the barrier, and were immediately sucked into Death Island, where Dalaf received them happily. They were never seen again.

The Sapphire Beta, however, remained true to her calling and traveled over the mountains, where she passed the story down to her children and grandchildren, and kept the spark of hope and love for the Great Alpha alive while the rest of the world forgot.

The tacumas took to the land beyond the Lodwil Mountians, which they called the Striplands, and the wolves took over the the land between the Mountains and the Sea of Separation. They split into packs and each developed a separate culture. The dragons split up, some stayed in the mountains and others remained with the wolves. Most of Yelodria did whatever they wanted.

Two hundred and eighty years later, the first book starts in the Dahop pack, where a little crippled runt named Lotro is weary of his life and being told he will never amount to anything. Everyone either shuns him, mocks him, or showers him with pity while they adore his older brother, who will become the Alpha after their father, Yerectoa. Lotro wants to become like his father, but knows he never will because of his physical limitations and his isolation from society. His only friend (besides his father) is a deaf and mute wolf from their ally pack, Dalow. His name is Dagi.

One day Dayetra, Lotro’s brother, catches a wolf from Yetut, a pack they’ve had some unhappy history with. Yetuts were known in Dahop as dirty traitors, liars, and rebellious slippery scoundrels. Lotro recognizes something different in her, and so does his father. Yerectoa commands Dayetra to lock her up in the dungeon instead of killing her, which Dayetra and the rest of the adoring pack members wanted to do.

Lotro visits the captive, Loya, and secretly befriends her. She is also an outcast because she resented the ways of the Yetuts, and she was forced over the boarder and told that if she ever came back, she would be killed. Lotro finds a new strength and comfort in her, so he keeps visiting her alone at night.

Dahop starts having trouble with Loklab, a pack which, it turns out, has been willingly enslaved by Dalaf and does whatever he tells them, and they enjoy doing it. One of the gets across the bridge over the river boarder, and no one can explain how it happened since the bridge was guarded. All the guards are questioned. Except one.

One night Yerectoa notices his older son slipping away in the quiet towards the boarder, and follows him at a distance. He finds Dayetra talking with Loklabs. He can’t hear their conversation, but he understands that Dayetra has betrayed them and is filled with dread.

All the pack loves Dayetra and thinks he will make a great Alpha, so as much as they love Yerectoa they will not believe him without hard evidence. Yerectoa takes Lotro on a walk towards the sea and they talk. Suddenly he shoves Lotro into the brush before four Loklabs attack him. He is outnumbered and overtaken, and the Loklabs leave him there to die. Terrified, Lotro tries to go for help, but Yerectoa stops him and tells him about his brother. Lotro must find a way to expose him to the rest of the pack before Dahop is overtaken and it’s people destroyed. Lotro limps for help as quickly as he can, but by the time someone gets to Yerectoa it is too late. Lotro blames himself and his physical disabilities because he could not get there fast enough, and some of the pack does too. Dayetra is made the Alpha.

Now Lotro must find a away to stop him before it’s too late with the help of a Yetut outcast and a deaf pup. He struggles with his limitations and thinks that if he’s not physically able, he must be mentally able. He refuses to listen to Loya’s advice and makes bad decisions, grounding his fear that he will not be able to protect those he loves. The more he messes up the more he fights to prove himself, and the worse things get. Loya is frustrated, thinking that he won’t listen to her just because she’s an outcast. She cares deeply for him, but still he goes his own way, so finally she stops helping him when he needs it most.

In the middle of all this lands Terut, the wolf from Lolutran. Lolutran is a pack that teaches everyone that there is no right or wrong and that everyone should all get along with each other and no one should fight for anything. Terut leaves to seek the truth, and he decides to help Lotro, Loya, and Dagi.

Unfortunately, his determination to find truth makes him stubborn and critical of everything, and his criticism makes everything harder for Lotro and gets him on Loya’s bad side. But because he’s the only one of them who can actually fight, they let him stay and help.

Then Iyara, the great great great great (maybe add several more greats) grandchild of the first Sapphire Beta shows up as the new Beta. She tells them about Yevlo and Dalaf, and then they realize how bad their situation with Loklab really is. Everyone, that is, except Terut, who refuses to believe the “Great Alpha nonsense” because there’s no “proof” that he exists.

Eventually, everyone’s internal problems and fears and external situations crash and it’s a struggle for all of them to pull together and stop the Loklabs. Then because of Lotro’s bad decisions and unexpected developments, they lose. All of Dahop is taken captive and the territory is destroyed. Loklab leaves it a desolate, empty wasteland, and plans to inhabit it once they take over Yetut. And Dalow. Failure causes everyone to realize their mistakes, and everyone sees everything as their fault, and they all apologize and draw closer to each other. Hope seems distant, but they cling to it and resolve to take any chance they get at bringing Dahop back again. The question is, will they have another chance?

 

Weeell, there it is! I’m not sure where my plot is going right now. I’ve mostly been working on character arcs, worldbuilding, and theme. Plotting was never something I was good at. I can’t outline…I just blank out when I try! The whole history/creation story isn’t part of the series. How much do you think needs to be known in the first book, and how should I tuck the information in?

I’d love to hear what you think, and let me know if you have any questions about something particular. It’s so nice to finally be able to tell someone all the things that have been crammed in my head from months. I’m excited to hear from you guys! 😀

@ariella-newheart @esjohnson